Got an Unfair 1-Star Review? Google My Business Smartphone App Lets You Respond to Online Reviews of Your Business

A lot of business owners were relieved when search engine giant Google introduced Google My Business, its streamlined service for helping users manage and update their business info online (as it appears on Maps, Google+, and Search). That’s because Google My Business offers different ways to connect with customers – whether it’s by adding photos, scheduling Hangouts, tracking Google reviews, and viewing data about how people interacted with businesses and brands.

Google My Business, which is available on the Web, also comes with a dedicated mobile app for business owners who wish to manage their info on-the-go. This week, Google updated this app, making it possible now for businesses to respond to online reviews posted by their customers on Google+. (You can download the app on Android and iOS.)

Along with this ability to respond, the Google My Business smartphone app also let business users know in real-time when they have received a review. This comes in the form of push notifications.

“We are making it possible to respond to Google reviews in the app, along with real-time alerts if you want to keep a pulse on your reputation online,” wrote product managers Abhishek Poddar and Zhouzhou He in a blog post.

Sarah Perez of TechCrunch thinks that this is a valuable new feature for business owners who want to effectively manage their online reputation

“Though a minor change from a technical perspective, this could be a very big deal for businesses where owners are often too busy running their operations to be sitting behind a PC to see what customers are saying online,” Perez wrote. “And as is often the case, a single bad review that’s allowed to sit out there, ignored, can have a big impact on prospective new customers or clients – even when the unhappy customer himself or herself was the one in the wrong.”

She added: “Other times, customers are asking questions via their reviews, or providing feedback businesses would want to know or respond to.”

Are you a business owner looking to manage your online reviews on Google as well as all other major review sites? Sign up for a free trial of ReviewTrackers, a powerful yet easy-to-use review monitoring and reputation management platform to help you listen closely and respond promptly to what customers are saying online.

Migs Bassig

Migs is the Content Manager for ReviewTrackers. He's a creative writer who has helped numerous companies communicate more effectively online, and he loves sharing his local marketing knowledge to help brands and business succeed.